Due to the holiday and lack of access to CAS, the meeting was held in Witmer Hall, room 116. The meeting was called to order by President Dean Smith at about 7PM.

Magazine Subscriptions

The first item discussed was magazine subscriptions. In order for the club to be eligible for club discount rates for Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazine, we need at least five subscribers for each magazine. For the first time in club history, we have enough people on both lists to qualify! Once we have an active discount for each magazine, additional club members who decide to subscribe may do so at the club rate. The cost for club discount magazine subscriptions are:

• $29.00 for Astronomy
• $29.95 for Sky and telescope (included with S&T subscription is a 10% merchandise discount)

Anyone interested in subscribing should contact one of the club officers.

Elections

It is time for annual elections for club officers. Fortunately this race was not mired in controversy. A motion was made by Ryan Kramer to carry the current slate of officers into the new year. Since there were no other nominations, and no other volunteers to run, Tricia quickly seconded the motion. By showing of hands, the motion passed unanimously. In case you have not been to one of the meetings lately, the officers are as follows:

Leonid Meteors and the HABP

The club discussed plans for viewing the Leonid Meteor shower this year. Predictions vary, but it looks like the best shot for greater than average meteor counts is early morning Friday the 17th, or early in the morning of Saturday, the 18th. On Saturday, the UND's High Altitude Balloon Project is planning a flight to coincide with the Leonids. So, to accomodate observing both nights and participation in the HABP, the following itinerary was decided on:

• The night of Nov 16-17, the club will meet sometime between 10 and 11PM on the 16th. The club will meet at the PSO, so contact one of the club officers to confirm times prior to departing for the observatory.
• The night of Nov 17-18, the club will meet at Ray Nemeseks farm for observing and to assist with the balloon launch. Some members may stay in town to be closer to the potential recovery area, so once again, stay in touch to find out what works best for you.

The Leonids typically produce 20-30 meteors per hour. The hope for this year is as many as 100 per hour, with a chance of seeing much greater activity since the responsible comet passed through the inner solar system recently.

Presentation

Dean gave an overview of his Masters defense, Wavelet Analysis of X-Ray Galaxy Clusters. In essence, his project involved examining five galaxy clusters to look for a relationship between visible sources, and areas of 'bright' X-Ray emission. Since X-Ray observations do not always produce an optical conterpart, Dean used the wavelet mathematical analysis tool to analyze the X-Ray data and look for correlations that may suggest what type of objects could be associated with the X-Ray sources. Although his findings were not 100% conclusive, they suggest that the X-Ray sources may have an early-type galaxy associated with them that is obscured by the dust and gas that is intrinsically associated with the galaxy clusters.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30PM